Short Biography
Flight of the Conchords seel out UK and European tour in record time
New Zealand folk comedy duo Flight of the Conchords will kick off a 15-stop European tour with dates in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Ireland, and the UK on May 3rd, 2010 at Amsterdam's Melkweg Max. The tour follows the second season and series finale of HBO/BBC's hit show Flight of the Conchords as well as the release of the duo's second full-length album, I Told You I Was Freaky. Comedians and fellow Flight of the Conchords actors Kristen Schall and Arj Barker are set to open each night. Complete list of tour dates below.
Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, the comedic musician...
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Short Biography
Flight of the Conchords seel out UK and European tour in record time
New Zealand folk comedy duo Flight of the Conchords will kick off a 15-stop European tour with dates in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Ireland, and the UK on May 3rd, 2010 at Amsterdam's Melkweg Max. The tour follows the second season and series finale of HBO/BBC's hit show Flight of the Conchords as well as the release of the duo's second full-length album, I Told You I Was Freaky. Comedians and fellow Flight of the Conchords actors Kristen Schall and Arj Barker are set to open each night. Complete list of tour dates below.
Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, the comedic musicians who together are Flight of the Conchords, first came onto the European scene after being nominated in 2003 for the Edinburgh Comedy Festival's prestigious Perrier Prize. This success led to the band's BBC 2 radio series, earning the pair the Bronze Sony Radio Academy Award for comedy. In 2008 Flight of the Conchords released their self-titled full-length debut which has gone on to achieve Gold status in the UK and was nominated for a Grammy for best comedy album, furthermore, the duo also received 2 Emmy nominations the same year for Best Writing (Comedy Series) and Best Directing (Comedy Series). This followed their 2007 Grammy win for the EP The Distant Future in the same category. 2009's I Told You I was Freaky received a 4/5 in The Sun, 8/10 in NME, and a 4/5 in Time Out London.
"Flight of the Conchords has had a great relationship with the U.K in the past. In some ways you could say we got our start there, and we were always over at the U.K's house. But then one night, some heated words were said and Flight of the Conchords left in a huff. We haven't been back since. That was five years ago," quipped Jemaine Clement. "Now, we're coming back to say we're sorry. We'll also be visiting our old friend Ireland, an acquaintance that we had an uneasy first date with called 'The Netherlands' and some countries we have never met called Norway and Sweden."
More about support act Kristen Schaal & Arj Barker.
Kristen Schaal, who plays Flight of the Conchords' fan-turned-stalker Mel on the BBC series, will open the tour dates from 3/5 through 15/5. In addition to her role on the Flight of the Conchords series, Schaal's film and TV credits include Law & Order, South Park, Kate & Leopold and the upcoming Toy Story 3. Comedian and actor Arj Barker, who plays Jemaine and Bret's New York friend Dave on the hit series, will open 16/5 through the end of the tour.
Flight of the Conchords - on tour
New Zealand folk comedy duo, Flight of the Conchords, have announced a series of UK dates in May.
The tour follows the second season of the Emmy nominated HBO/BBC hit show Flight of the Conchords and the release of the duo's second full-length album, I Told You I Was Freaky.
In-depth Biography
Flight of the Conchords, New Zealand's self-proclaimed "fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo a cappella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo," first took shape in Wellington. Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement (musician/funnyman and funnyman/musician, respectively) started crafting their unique, two-man comedy mélange in 1998, while the two were living together as college roommates. Overcome by a dream in which a V formation of Gibson Flying Vs resembled a gaggle of Concorde airplanes, the two christened themselves Flight of the Conchords and began honing their act in local comedy and rock clubs during the late '90s. By 2002, they could be found playing such high-profile gigs as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. When they returned to the fest in 2003, they were nominated for the Perrier Award, thus making them "the almost award-winning fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo a cappella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo in New Zealand." Between those gigs, Flight of the Conchords self-released the album Folk the World Tour, and by 2005 they had become the subject of a six-part BBC Radio 2 broadcast series -- a largely improvised affair in the vein of Spinal Tap and Tenacious D. Also in 2005, the group landed a spot on HBO's Friday night series One Night Stand.
In 2006, Clement was featured in a series of humorous commercials for the U.S.-based Outback Steakhouse restaurant chain, and later that year, the band penned a deal with U.S. indie imprint Sub Pop. The label released the half-studio, half-live EP The Distant Future a year later. Shortly after signing to Sub Pop, the two got their breaks as actors. Clement scored a starring role in the indie romantic comedy Eagle vs. Shark, and HBO offered Bret and Jemaine their own series. Flight of the Conchords thus became a comedy show, and it premiered in June of 2007. Combining the understated humor of Ricky Gervais' Extras with the musical slapstick of Tenacious D's six-episode HBO series, the show followed the duo's attempt to achieve success as a band in New York City, with silly songs worked into the plot lines. After 12 well-received episodes, it was announced that the boys would return for a second season in 2008. That April, Sub Pop released a full-length album of songs from the first season. After another ten-episode run, a compilation of songs from season two was released in October of 2009, titled I Told You I Was Freaky. ~ J. Scott McClintock, Rovi
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